


En route to dinner

by Keenir



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 11:05:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle has a great idea - invite all her friends to dinner.  And this brings Ruby and Archie closer together, as it helps them address their issues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	En route to dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivulet027](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/gifts).



> (cameo appearances by the Sprats; mention of Mulan, a boojum, a glump, and one of the seven swan sisters)
> 
> **Warnings:** An attempt at emotional H/C. Also, this is written with knowledge of no episodes beyond  Child of the Moon.
> 
>  
> 
> Note: The opening paragraph is from the story Soup from a sausage skewer.

**_‘And then, when we had finished that course, the same came on all over again; it was as good as two feasts. We were very sociable, and there was as much joking and fun as if we had all been of one family circle.’_ **

Belle smiled as she read that - it was a slow day here in the library - and much of her envied it. Not just the folklore figures in the book, that would be silly; but most everyone. _Before and during the Curse, they all had feasts, balls, get-togethers, and parties._ After the Curse, more of the same; the only people from my old life I’ve seen here are Father, Rumplestiltskin, and I think I once glimpsed Gaston in a wheelchair.

But therein lay the crux of the problem: “Who would come?” she wondered.

“Excuse me,” Granny said, putting a cookbook and two biographies on Belle’s counter. “I’d like to borrow these.”

“Of course,” Belle said, copying down the books’ _Dewey Decimals_.

“Anything I can help with?”

“I don’t -”

Granny stopped her right there. “You were wondering something when I came over. Planning a party?”

“I can’t,” Belle said.

“Can’t?”

“Can’t.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know anybody,” Belle said.

“I don’t believe that,” Granny told her, “and neither should you. Leroy gave you a hug, and he’s never hugged anybody - over Here or over There.”

“A party with myself and Leroy seems…” and shrugged helplessly.

“Not so fast, girl, I’m not done yet. Leroy’s got a girlfriend, don’t ask me how that happened, but I’m sure he would bring her. Also, I know for a fact that you’re friends with my granddaughter Ruby.”

Belle nodded. “I tried to help her out during last wolfstime.”

“Then you’re a brave friend. And I think you’d find something to talk about with Dr. Hopper - everyone does.” Granny sighed. “And there’s _your_ beau.”

“I assumed nobody would want to come if he did,” Belle said.

“Your party, your guest list.” Granny smiled. “And any who say different, you just send them to me.”

“Thank you,” Belle said, handing over the three books to Granny, “and I would like for you to come as well.”

“You couldn’t keep me away,” Granny said, and left with The Old Man and the Sea, with The Shark Woman and with Julia Childs’ first publication.

**

Walking over from the Information Desk, “Can I help you?” Belle asked someone who had been standing at the NEW BOOKS for ten minutes now.

“Sorry, I was just trying to work up the nerve…”

_Gods, here I go again. Before Father decided I should marry Gaston, so many men paraded themselves in front of me, trying to persuade me to marry one of them; I turned down each of them._

“I’m Archie, by the - way. Belle?” he asked, having turned to face her about halfway through that sentence.

_Jiminy. I haven‘t seen you in - years?_ “I - I’m sorry,” Belle said. “What did you say you were looking for?”

“Psychology,” Archie said.

“Um, aren’t you the town’s psychologist? At least, that’s what I’ve been told.” _The asylum had its own psychologist._

“I am.”

“Then…?” Belle asked, pretty sure she was missing something. Aside from, that is, whatever was supposed to be on the shelves marked MODERN HISTORY.

“As a therapist, I got my knowledge from a spell,” Archie said.

“And all magic has a price.”

“Afraid so.”

“That doesn’t mean the information’s wrong,” Belle said. “I mean, if nobody has set foot in Storybrooke since the Curse brought us here, then where did all these books come from?”

_Oh._ “I didn’t think of that.”

“I think I’ve had too much time on my hands,” Belle offered to lighten things. “So, is there anything else I can help you with?”

_Are there any books on crickets?_ “Thank you, but there’s nothing else - I should really be getting back. Since the Curse ended, at least half the town’s started coming in for counseling of one sort or another.”

“I could help, if you’re short-handed,” she offered. “I dabbled a bit…over There.”

“I’ll let you know,” Archie said, and, after a good handshake, he left.

**

“A dinner?” Rumplestiltskin asked with a faint hint of incredulity, the knife caught in mid-chopping of the carrots.

“Uh-huh,” Belle confirmed with a pleased look to her face. _I figure, our dates have been going well, so there shouldn’t be any disasters when we have company over._

“As in eating?”

“I’ve seen you eat.”

“Oh, I do, and I can. But rarely does anyone seek to eat with me. Present company excepted.”

“Thank you. And nobody ate with you because you intimidate them.”

“Easily.”

“I’m serious.”

“As am I,” he assured Belle. “Both here and There, people see me when they want something.”

_I know. I may not like it, but I know._ “I’d like for you to attend.”

“Then I shall.”

Belle smiled.

“May I ask whom else will be at this dinner?”

“Just some of my friends,” Belle said.

_Well that isn’t ominous for me in the slightest._

**

“I can’t,” Ruby said.

“Why not?” Belle asked, looking across the diner countertop. “I’m throwing a dinner party and inviting all my friends. And you’re my friend.”

“Thanks for that. But lets look at who else you invited,“ Ruby said, turning the page with the list of names around. “Dr. Hopper. Mr. Gold.”

“Rumplestiltskin.”

“And Leroy and Sister Astrid. All couples, except for me and Ar- Dr. Hopper.”

“Well…” Belle said, “that’s my fault.”

“It is? _You_ talked a nun into…?”

“Into what?”

_When you were a kept woman, just how short a leash did they keep on you?_ “Nevermind, I’ll explain about nuns later,” Ruby promised.

“Okay,” Belle accepted. “And I didn’t talk Sister Astrid into anything. Before any of us came to Storybrooke, I talked with Leroy. I convinced him to follow his heart and be with the woman he loved.”

“So… you were a matchmaker a-”

“Just the once.”

“And you matchmade them. And you and Mr. G- sorry, and Rumplestiltskin are an item. I’m seeing a pattern here,” she half-kidded Belle.

“You’re both my friends, you and Jiminy,” Belle said, perfectly serious.

“You mean Archie.”

“No, I never met Archie, not until after the Curse broke. Jiminy was a guest at my father’s castle for a while.” _And he performed at my grandfather’s coronation._

“Him and Pinnochio, right?”

“Who?” Belle asked. “I asked Geppetto if he wanted to come, but he said he had a meeting to attend.”

_Something tells me I can’t and shouldn’t plead that I have a meeting too._ So she elected to buy time by satisfying a bit of curiosity: “Belle?” Ruby asked.

“Yes?” Belle asked.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Why is this dinner so important to you?”

Belle set down her fork so she could give this her full attention. “You probably know by now that my father was a duke.”

Ruby nodded. _Mo_.

“So there were a lot of balls and dancing when I was growing up,” Belle said. “Not as many as some places had - we were too close to the encroaching ogre battlefields for some peoples’ comfort. But I never really enjoyed the dancing. What I liked were the feasts.”

“You don’t strike me as a feaster,” Ruby kidded.

“It wasn’t just the food. There would always be somebody there ready to tell a tale of bravery and heroism - either something he witnessed, or an account passed on to him.”

“So it’s the stories.”

“It was the stories that I heard, and others I read, that gave me a sense of what bravery was, what bravery could do,” Belle said. “And its what I was trying to do when I left my duchy.”

“You wanted to be brave?”

Belle nodded. “Rumplestiltskin mocked me about it a few times - not that I left, but _why_ I left.”

“How does that work?” Ruby asked.

“I’m sure you’ve been brave more times than I have,” Belle said.

“No, I mean you and Mr. Gold. I know you’ve said…” and Ruby sighed. “I just can’t wrap my head around that one.”

“He’s a good man. He’s just -”

“Please don’t say he’s just misunderstood.”

“Can’t and won’t. But magic is a crutch, and he’s trying to use it less, and to do the right thing more.”

Ruby raised a glass. “Here’s hoping that works.”

_You and me both._ “So far, so good.”

**

As Ruby was walking and thinking, trying to decide if she should attend Belle’s dinner, she found herself passing Archie’s house. A house with an open front door.

Ruby’s first thought was to check it out, to investigate. That was tempered by the This-world understanding that things like this require the police. _That_ was chucked out by remembering where Emma is, and that Sheriff Charming was very busy.

_Besides, Emma_ did _deputize me,_ Ruby thought with a smile as she crossed the lawn to investigate.

She poked her head inside, and didn’t see anything suspicious. All the dust did make her sneeze twice, though.

No response elicited, though.

Ruby slid inside, careful to move things as little as possible, in case a larger investigation needed to be made later on.

Pongo was napping under the desk, Ruby noted. _And no sign of Archie._

On the right and left sides of the front door and scattered throughout the living room, Ruby found cardboard packing boxes with their contents and ‘room to move to?’ lists scrawled on their lids. “This why you’re hiding out?” she asked Pongo quietly. “Smart.”

That was when Ruby heard footsteps starting to make their way down the stairs. _Tall. Carrying something light. Familiar with the terrain,_ Ruby noted, relying on lessons learned over There. “Hold it right there!” Ruby said in her best cop voice when the footsteps’ owner was halfway down the stairs.

They complied.

Ruby walked over to the foot of the stairs, and saw who it was: Archie, using both hands to carry a box downstairs. _Oh._

Feeling that he had to say _something_ , Archie said, “I don’t know why I have all these boxes - I’ve never owned much.”

“There an umbrella collection anywhere?”

“Not that I’ve noticed. But then, there’s still about a dozen other boxes in my attic. But I don’t think umbrellas are what brought you here.”

_Nope. Mary Poppins lives down the lane._ “Your front door was open,” Ruby said. “What’s in the box?”

Archie came the rest of the way down the stairs and set it on the table in front of the sofa he sat down on. “For twenty-eight years, it was the biggest mystery of my life,” Archie said. “Please, have a seat, Ruby. You’re friends with Mary Margaret, right?”

Ruby nodded.

“And who she was over There.”

“Snow White. The rightful Queen.”

Archie tapped the box’s lid and slid it off one-handed. “Have a look. This was her mother’s.”

“It’s a cloak,” Ruby said, taking a peek. “Very sparkly.”

“That’s the skin of Snow White’s mother.”

“Whoa, bit creepy much?”

“She asked me to find it and free it, but I wasn’t able to work up the nerve to accomplish it until the end of Regina’s reign”

Ruby had a feeling this is where quiet was the best response. But her mind had already seized on one thing, and was refusing to let it go.

And Archie eventually continued: “I was going to take it to the town cemetery, and return it to her.”

“Going to take Henry?” Ruby asked, while thinking, _Snow’s mom asked you to do something? But Snow told me her mom died when she was… Shit._

“Not sure I could.”

“Why’s that?”

“The primacy of over There to Henry,” Archie said. “That Jiminy Cricket didn’t do the right things in this case.”

“One, nobody’s perfect.”

“I’m a conscious, not a person.”

Ruby snorted. “Two, how can you know so much about the importance of doing the right thing, if you never did anything wrong? You’re not Jesus.” She made a face.

“You okay?” Archie asked.

“I’m fine. Just wondering how we know about Jesus or Buddha or…” _Or the rules nuns live by._

“Belle’s got some theories about that. Personally, I think there’s more to the Curse than any of us thought.”

“Belle of the library?” Ruby asked.

Archie nodded.

“She’s sort of the reason why I’m here. Her, and the fact that your front door was open.”

“Well, thank you for your vigilance and concern, Deputy,” Archie said.

_Okay, **this** part of the job doesn’t suck. The other part, though…_ “I need to ask you something.”

He nodded assent. “I’m pretty reasonably certain that nothing’s missing.”

“Good to know. But what I was going to ask, is if Belle said anything to you about a dinner.” _Unless she didn’t mention it to Archie so it’d feel like I was asking him out. But that level of tricksyness is more Regina’s and Rumplestiltskin’s alley._

“She did,” Archie confirmed.

“And?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious how long a meal with her guest list would remain civil. In the sense of not even any doublespeak or veiled references to sore points of shared history.”

“Wow, way to straightjacket civility.”

Archie frowned. “Well, wouldn’t things get acrimonious whether the insults were veiled or not? The only difference would be how long it might take to boil over into actual violence.”

“It’s happened before -” though that didn’t really feel like a reason to her.

“But not in front of Belle, or where we’re all her guests,” Archie said.

Ruby nodded, understanding where he was going with this: “She’d pull in on herself, wall herself away from what few friends she has, and maybe go back to whatever unhealthy thing she was doing when the Curse broke.”

“Has she said anything about that to you?”

“Just that she was - and I quote, a kept woman - but nothing else. Definitely sheltered, though. Any thoughts as to where she was for all those years?”

“None so far, sorry,” Archie said. “And I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave - I’m locking up so I can bring this to the grave,” he said, patting the now-closed box.

“Can I go too?”

“If you want,” Archie said, not sure why she’d want to, but not feeling up to stopping her.

Ruby nodded.

**

They walked to the cemetery in silence, crossed the entrance and passed several family plots in much the same way, until, as Ruby and Archie passed a pair of tombstones marked simply **SPRAT** , he said, “You should know -”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Ruby said.

“I want to, though,” Archie said. “We were friends, Snow’s mother and I. Good enough of friends that she trusted me to set her skin free.”

“Can I ask what’s so special about a glossy blouse - or skin?”

Archie nodded. “Anyone who takes their skin, can have them give good weather; King White also had a selkie’s skin, ensuring that fish would always come to his kingdom’s nets.”

“Okay, that’s why others wanted it. But why’d she?”

_It was_ her _skin._ “So she could be a swan again. And so she could leave.” _It’s like the Dark One’s Dagger: whomever holds it, calls the shots. Harvests, luck, wealth._

Imagining what her own life could have turned out like, had her wolf worked like that swanskin, Ruby looked at the tombstone now that they’d arrived at it, and counted her blessings. “You’re free, now.”

“Sorry you had to wait,” Archie said to the grave.

**

“Come on, girl, what’s wrong?” Granny prompted Ruby an hour after returning from the cemetery.

“Nothing.”

_Riiight._ “Then why have you been poking and prodding at that cake slice for the last twenty minutes with nary a bite taken?”

“Guess I’m not hungry.”

“That’d be a first,” Granny said. Looking over when the diner’s bell chimed, “Come here and have a seat, Belle. I think Ruby needs the both of us to talk to her.”

“Um…okay,” Belle said, and sat down next to Ruby. Quietly, Belle assured Ruby that, “I didn’t know -”

“Granny’s just being over-dramatic. It happens now and again,” Ruby replied.

“Says the girl who tried to run away with the first boy she ever had a crush on,” Granny said.

“I remember the first person I ever had a crush on,” Belle said.

“Mr. Gold?”

“No! But that first crush didn’t work out either.”

“Parents nix it?” Ruby asked.

“No. Twas a boojum who turned into a glump, and tried to eat me. If Mulan hadn’t been there, I would have died.” _One of the advantages to our duchy keeping close ties with the Empire._

“You win,” Ruby said, and Granny nodded.

“Win what?” Belle asked.

“Your story’s more impressive. It’s…agh, no idea where it comes from, actually. But if, say, sad stories are being shared, you tell the person who has the saddest tale ‘you win.’ That’s just how it goes.”

“Hmm,” Belle said, and Ruby could swear Belle was plotting something.

“I’ve got an idea,” Granny said. “I’ll cut some slices of pie for the two of you. You let me know if you like it - if you do, take it home with you. Consider it my donation to the dinner.”

“Potluck,” Ruby said soto voice to Belle.

“That word, I know,” Belle said, relieved that not everything here was new. To Granny, “Thank you.”

Once Granny had gone in the back to get the pie, Ruby said to Belle, “Okay, you were right, Archie’s cute. Aaand I may like him,” she admitted before Belle could wheedle it out of her.

“I’m happy for you,” Belle said. “For both of you.”

“But it’s weird.”

She just looked at Ruby, and blinked once blankly.

“Seriously, weird doesn’t begin to cover it,” Ruby said.

Belle nodded. “But you both have feelings for each other.” _Archie’s told me as much, albeit indirectly._

“He was in love with Henry’s grandmother! Or a highly-strong friendship.”

“Since then, he was a cricket - the nearest our world had to celibate monks.”

“There’s that, yeah - Hold on, whose side are you on?”

“Your,” Belle said. “You can’t use the Too Weird card with me, Ruby - I’m in love with a man whose wife died several centuries before Archie was born.”

“I’m gone all my life without that mental image, thank you very much,” Red teased.

“What, of Rumplestiltskin happily married?”

“No, of him or Mr. Gold having sex.”

“Can’t argue that,” Granny said, coming back out with the slices of pie. “You tell me how that tastes,” she told the girls, “I’m trying out a new recipe.”

Once the girls were chewing, Granny said, “Actually, now that I think about it, there’s a few folks in town older than Gold.”

“Really?” they asked.

“The nuns. Mother Superior and Sister Astrid, certainly. Though the fairies are better described as being at loggerheads with Rumplestiltskin.”

_Huh._ “But that’s not the point,” Ruby said.

_Maybe you’re getting it._ “No?”

“You knew Archie when he was…” Ruby shook her head. “Dr. Hopper’s at least as old as you!”

_Or you’re not getting it._ “Are you saying I can’t get a date?” Granny asked.

“No. No, just not anyone my age.”

“Some people like my level of maturity. Besides, when I knew Dr. Hopper over There, he was my age. We were friends, just like you and that Piper boy when you had the pigtails.”

“I was a kid.”

“So was I.”

“That still doesn’t change how old he is,” Ruby said.

“I agree, that doesn’t change it. His curse does.”

“He wasn’t cursed.”

Granny snorted. “A fairy turned him into a cricket. In my book, that’s a curse. And its the same effect as ours, Red.”

“What?”

“You and I don’t age, bruise, or tan when we’re wolves,” Granny said. _We can die, but that’s neither easy nor relevant._ “I got to looking this old, Ruby, by living most of my life on two clothed legs.”

“And Archie hasn’t had that option,” Ruby said.

Granny nodded. _And just to make sure she understands this lesson,_ “’Tyger tyger burning bright, in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry,’” Granny quoted. “Told to me by that lodger you said I was sweet on.” _And that same Snark told me over There it was a hymn of homeland._

“Nice. Point?” Ruby asked.

“You want to be admired for your cloak and claws, your wits and heart, or your duality?”

“My wits and my heart,” Ruby said.

“Then stop judging others by _their_ claws and cloak.

Ruby nodded. “I was an ass, wasn’t I?”

“ _You_ were thoughtless. _Midas_ was an cute ass.”

_Do I want to know?_ Using a tactic from earlier, Ruby asked, “Granny?” 

“Yeah?”

“What was your name? Before everyone just called you Granny.”

“They called me Granmaid,” said Granny. “And yes, even when I was married.”

**

The next day, after giving the matter a great deal of thought, alongside going through half her wardrobe, Ruby had only one admission to make: _Granny was right. Again,_ a thought without malice or ire or upset.

Ruby looked at her reflection: dressed in clothes she deemed casual & comfy, yet dressy enough for a semi-formal dinner _which it is, even if Belle doesn’t say so - its her first, after all,_ and this outfit would best display her curves and contours should she stretch. “Nice. I like,” Ruby said, pleased.

_If nothing else, I’m dressed for a great dinner with friends. If anything else happens, great; if not, no skin off my back._

**

_And now it’s time,_ Belle thought to herself as she answered the doorbell. “Grumpy,” Belle greeted with a smile.

“Belle. This’ Nova,” Leroy said to Belle, introducing her, “or Sister Astrid.”

“Hello!” Nova said cheerfully to Belle.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you,” Belle said and brought them to the dining room all well-arranged.

“Is it true?” Nova asked.

“Is -?”

Mr. Gold then entered the room with a large roast bird in a pan. “There now, who’s hungry?” he asked them.

“Where’d you get that?” Grumpy asked. “Rob Granny’s?”

“Oh there was no need. They were on sale in the southern end of town.” Setting the pan down on the table, he straightened up and said, “Ah, Nova, so good to see you again.”

“Thank you,” Nova said. “You’re doing well.”

“I try.”

“And its true?” she asked, looking at him and at Belle.

“Is - Ah, that is out of my hands.”

Nova clapped giddily.

The doorbell rang again, and Belle excused herself to get that.

“I’m just so happy for you - for both of you,” Nova said.

“For _Belle and_ myself, yes?” Rumplestiltskin asked.

“Yes, yes.”

“As opposed to…?” Leroy asked.

“There was an…incident, where he was hurt,” Nova said.

“Can’t have been too bad,” Leroy said.

“In half. Two halves.”

While Leroy tried not to laugh at that, Rumplestiltskin said kindly, “I haven’t told Belle about that particular bit of importunateness, but I do plan on it. So if you could keep hush about it for a few days?”

Nova nodded. “We will,” and held Grumpy’s hands tenderly, which bought his silence.

“And this is Ruby and Archie,” Belle said, coming up behind them.

“Hey,” Leroy said.

“Hey,” Ruby said.

“Hello, Leroy, Astrid,” Archie said.

“Hello,” Nova said.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Welcome to this humble home, Jiminy,” Rumplestiltskin said.

“It’s a nice house,” Archie said.

“Thank you. And hello, Red.”

“Rumplestiltskin,” Ruby said.

“I _do_ have a question for you, Ruby, though it can wait until after dinner.”

“No, ask now.”

Archie made a small noise in his throat.

“Very well,” Rumplestiltskin said. “When we were looking for Belle, you said something that puzzled me - something about a wolf?”

“Like you don’t know?” Ruby asked.

“Haven’t a clue.”

_The hell?_

**

“That was…surprising,” Archie said as he and Ruby walked down the street.

“Understatement of the year,” Ruby muttered. “It was like everybody was dancing around anything even thinly connected to those sore points.”

_At least, that was the case after we arrived. Okay, after the surprise about my wolf._

“Present company included,” Archie said with a not-so-hidden smile.

“Yeah, yeah, you and me too.” Turning the conversation on him, “Think you’ll be on board when Leroy launches that ship of his next week?” _Dinner table talk kept returning to the ship - even Gold seems to have an interest in it._

“Uhhh…probably not.”

“Any reason why not?” Ruby asked.

“I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been on a boat,” Archie said. _And I need even fewer fingers to count the rafts._ “I’d rather not add another.”

_Okay._ “Got any favorites?” Ruby asked, feeling like he and she had made progress and were further into a - _be it a relationship or strong friendship_ \- than they had been.

“When Geppetto was a boy, he and I were good little pirates.”

“Good pirates?”

“Well-behaved,” Archie clarified.

“No pillaging or burning?”

Archie shook his head. “Captain Hook didn’t really go for that sort of thing - the man was very focused.”


End file.
